An international group of scientists and practitioners on ecology and land use called for massive and urgent investment in "the restoration of natural capital" at a conference in Greifswald (Germany) last week.

Natural capital is made up of the environmental stocks which provide the goods and services provided by ecosystems. The grim alternative to investment in restoration is continuing degradation of our environemnt, leading to critical shortages in ecological essentials such as clean air, clean water, and fertile soil.

Investments in ecological restoration will lead us away from the deepening crisis of ecosystem collapse. The conference heard that ecological restoration is an essential but neglected element in achiving the interrelated goals of nature conservation, sustainable economic development, and enhancing the well-being of peoples throughout the world.

A striking example of the scale of our global environmental crisis can be seen in the gigantic carbon emissions from degraded peatlands in South East Asia, which has highlighted at the conference. These emissions are comparable to emissions from the industries of developed countries. But they have received very little international attention and are not included in the Kyoto Protocol.

Massive investment in the restoration of peatlands in this region should be an essential part of any strategy to control climate change, but has only recently been initiated on a very small scale, while buring continues to accelerate.

The conference delegates recognised that human communities suffering from acute poverty are the first victims of this kind of degradation, and yet often intensify it becase of lack of resources to invest in sustainble production. In a declaration issued at the end of the conference, the group urged "a pro-poor approach in developing countries to break through the vicious cycle of social-environmental degradation".

The delegates also discussed the radical changes in land use taking place int he enlarged European Union. They urge EU member states to take positive advantage of the land freed up by the decline in land needed for intensive farming. This can be done through the restoration and rehabilitation of river systems, wetlands, peatlands, forets, and eco-systems created by traditional farming methods. Such an approach would enhance environmental health, protect biodiversity and cultural landscaes, help produce higher quality organic food and other regional products, and also maintain jobs, livelihoods and, hopefully, social cohesion in rural communities.

There was agreement that ecologists need to learn from economists, and ecnomists from ecologists, as we strive for nature consrvation, sustainble economic development and ecological restoration. The conference stressed the need to consult effectively with all stakehoders impacted by programmes pursuing all these objectives.

Finally the conference delegates called upon political and social leaders to puresue a radical cultural dhift and to help sher ina new era built upon twin principles: "Economics as if nature mattered and ecology as if people matters".

The 5th European Conference on Ecological Restoration took place in Greifswald, Germany, last week. It was convened by the Society for Ecological Restoration - Europe to explore the challenge of changes in land use, and was attended by over 400 resotration scientists and practitioners from 47 countries and 5 continents. The full text of the final conference declaration is available, click here.

Further information:

General information: Hans Joosten; joosten@uni-greifswald.de +49 3834 864177

SE Asian peatlands: Marcel Silvius; marcel.silvius@wetlands.org, +31 317 478854